Saskatoon searching for bridge builders

The process to find a builder for the North Commuter Parkway and replacement for the Traffic Bridge is underway.

The City of Saskatoon has issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for companies interested in bidding on the two projects. City administrators will comb through resumes of interested companies, looking for previous experience.

"So, things like their design experience building roads and bridges, their construction experience with roads and bridges, and that type of thing," said project manager Dan Willems.

The competition should be steep for the interested companies. The City will spend more than 250 million dollars on the project. The successful bidder will operate and maintain the bridge for 30 years after it's completed.

"At this point, there are a number of teams that are forming, bringing expertise from across Canada to try and win this job," said Willems.

The RFQ process will narrow the field down to three candidates. After that, a more in-depth Request for Proposals process will come into place, detailing things like bridge designs.

The city says both bridges should be completed by 2018.